Drink Of The Week: Jalapeno Caipirinha

Brazilian Heat In A Glass

A little history with your buzz...

The caipirinha (pronounced cai-pe-reen-ya) is the national drink of Brazil, and like its cousin the mojito, its profile has been rising outside of its native country for the past few years. The word "caipirinha" is more or less Portuguese for "little hillbilly," because the drink was originally associated with people from rural areas. Those days are long gone though — cachaça, the sugar cane liquor used in the drink, is now being marketed all over the world, and there are some superior premium brands out there. But unlike other liquors, cachaça is fundamentally a cheap booze, and even the most expensive brands won't set you back too far.

We had the best caipirinhas of our life at a little neighborhood bar in Rio that shall remain nameless (sorry guys, but some things in this world are sacred, like hole-in-the-wall bars that make perfect cocktails), and the key was using lots of fresh-squeezed lime and shaking it vigorously until it got almost foamy. Often, you'll find caipirinhas muddled, mojito-style, but we feel that shaking with ice is the superior method here. You know what else doesn't hurt? Icing down the glasses in the freezer for an hour or so before serving. Cachaça has some bite to it, and serving this drink ice cold (or as they say in Brazil, bem gelada) will smooth out the rough edges.

You'll rarely find jalapeno in your caipirinha in Brazil, but we experimented with it a couple weekends ago and found that the alternating waves of sweet, cold and spicy put us immediately in mind of Ipanema beach.

Hair-on-your-chest factor: 88/100

The addition of raw jalapeno ratchets up the manliness on what is otherwise a pretty unisex cocktail. If you're not into too much spice, make sure you get rid of all the seeds before mixing. If you like your heat, keep more seeds in the mix. Cachaça will sneak up on you, so watch yourself. Caipirinhas fall under the same category of martinis in the "one isn't enough, three is too many" sense. And this being sugar-cane liquor, the hangover can brutalize you like few other spirits can.

Ingredients In a shaker, combine: The juice of 1 fresh lime (after squeezing, cut the lime into quarters and add it to the shaker) 1/2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and cut in half (cutting it up releases the heat into the drink) 1 tablespoon white sugar 2 ounces of cachaça Ice